15th Army Group

The 15th Army Group was an Allied army group that was active from 1943 to 1945 during World War II. The army group consisted of the British Eighth Army and the US Fifth Army, and it contained troops from the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Poland, Brazil, Italy, and Greece. The group, initially commanded by Harold Alexander, was later taken over by Mark W. Clark, and it grew to have a strength of 300,000 troops. The army group was formed in Algiers, Algeria, and it was formed with the goal of liberating Italy from the Axis Powers. From 1943 to 1945, the army group fought its way through Sicily and up the boot of Italy, conquering Rome in June 1944. On 2 May 1945, the 15th Army Group accepted the surrender of the German forces in Italy, and the division was inactivated after the war ended.